This week (6th to 10th November) is Ask About Medicines Week for 2006. The aim of the campaign is to "increase people's involvement in decisions about their use of medicines".

This years campaign aims to promote four key messages:

As we get older we take more medicines

Asking questions about medicines helps us to use them safely and effectively

Some people, particularly those in the oldest age groups, need to be encouraged to ask questions about their medicines

Confusion about medicines can lead to inappropriate use of medicines, which is potentially dangerous to patients and costly to the NHS

In delivering these key messages some support materials have been made available online. Leaflets are available covering antibiotics, breast and lung cancer and there are limited supplies of medicines charts.

Action: Clinicians may find some of these leaflets a useful resource for patients.